Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or dialogue from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I don't make any profit from writing this story.

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At first Toph wasn't sure what woke her up. She usually hated flying, but she had been quite content taking a nap leaning against Sokka while keeping half an ear on princess' heartbeat for any signs of her awakening.

Ah, so that's what interrupted her sleep. The girl's heart was beating much faster as if trying to get out of her chest and her limbs were starting to tremble. Toph shook herself awake which got her a pained groan from Sokka. She couldn't feel any of the others very well so she had to hope someone else was awake.

"Hey!" she yelled, "I think princess Crazy is waking up!" Now the girl's whole body was shaking and Toph had to bend the iron around Azula a little to prevent her from falling off Appa. "No wait, I think she may be dying!"

"Shit," she heard from Sokka, and she felt Appa begin to descend.

"We may as well land for now," said Aang who apparently was steering. "Appa can't carry us all much longer." That got others grumbling. No one wanted to land so soon when they might have half of Fire Nation chasing after them.

It was good to feel solid earth under her feet again, even though she was going to miss Sokka's solid chest under her back. She got the princess out of Appa's saddle and felt Katara setting down next to her. She heard Katara gasp and Sokka curse again as Azula's convulsions were getting worse.

"What's wrong with her, Sugar Queen?" she asked.

"I don't know!" shouted Katara, her own heartbeat picking up. She was trying to bend some water around Azula's head, but it wasn't making her better.

Toph listened to the girl's body some more. It was hard to feel someone dying, even if she was the enemy and almost killed Aang.

"Katara, I think she is choking!"

Immediately, Katara cleared Azula's nose and throat, causing others to flinch as what Toph guessed was spray of blood splashed on the ground. She felt Haru covering Duke's eyes. Sokka cursed again and groaned. She knew he was still in pain himself, although he was hiding it well from others. Usually Sokka would be first to complain, but now he clearly had other things on his mind.

"Come on, Katara, you are usually good at healing!" pleaded Sokka. "It's not like I want my head to become a murder weapon!"

"It's not murder if she is the enemy," squeaked Duke.

"You shouldn't talk like that," admonished Teo.

"It doesn't matter if she is the enemy," said Haru. "We could've taken my dad with us instead of her. Or Teo's father. Or yours," he turned to Sokka and Katara. "So we can't let her die or it was all for nothing."

"Shut up!" screamed Katara as the waterflow around Azula's head was disrupted and soaked the ground. It felt like Sugar Queen was going to blow up any moment.

Sokka suddenly approached Haru, Teo and Duke, putting himself between them and Katara. "Hey guys! Why don't we go ahead and leave Katara to do her job. I'm sure she'll get the hang of it if we don't distract her."

They weren't happy about it, but they complied, leaving the three of them with the princess and Appa. Toph bent a deep hole in the earth were she could hear some flow. Katara took a breath and used the new source of water to surround Azula's head again.

After some minutes she seemed to give up and let the water flow back into the well.

"I can't heal her," she admitted, bowing her head.

"Why?" asked Aang kneeling next to her and tentatively putting his hand on her shoulder.

"You see, I'm not a real healer," said Katara to everyone's surprise.

"Come on," Toph shook her head. "I saw you heal people. You are good at it."

"No, you don't understand. When we came to the Northen Water Tribe I wanted to learn real waterbending. But master Pakku said he won't teach it to a girl, that we are only good for healing," Katara sighed. "So I gave it a shot and went to a healing class. You remember Yugoda, right Aang? Anyway, next day I fought master Pakku and he agreed to teach me. So I never returned to Yugoda's class."

"But you are a great healer anyway!" protested Aang.

"That's what I'm talking about. You see, Yugoda told me that day that to be a good healer I have to feel compassion for all leaving things. But I hate Azula. I don't really want her to die, but I don't want her to get better either," admitted Katara.

"Toph," suddenly asked Aang. "Do you think she is dying right now?"

Toph listened and shrugged. "I don't think so, no. Getting her breath back probably helped. But her heart sounds weaker now."

Aang turned to Katara again. "Listen, I know what you are going through. As the Avatar I have to help the whole world, even people I don't like. I think you need to meditate and find your inner peace. Monk Gyatso taught me that. Don't think about what Azula did to us, think about her as... as a small child! Like you are watching her first steps or something..." the boy trailed off.

"If you say I have to pretend to be her mother, I'm going to be sick," warned Katara, but sighed and got into a position to meditate. Aang sat in front of her and took her hands in his.

"It may take a while," he said to Toph.

"Alright, I'll watch over you, I guess. Hope others will wait for us."

Toph sat down too and waited.

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'Azula'

'Azula!'

'Azula, you have to wake up!'

Azula opened her eyes and moaned. She had such a good dream - Father was finally going to get rid of Zuko and she'd have the whole palace to herself. Suddenly, she remembered. It was not a dream - it was true. But who would wake her up in the middle of the night?

She turned her head and saw Mother sitting on her bed. The woman sighed and turned to her. Mother's eyes were very sad, and Azula didn't know what to say.

"I came to say goodbye, Azula. I made sure Zuko is safe, but I can't stay here anymore."

Azula sat on her bed and looked at Mother with wide eyes. So Zuko will continue to annoy her. Oh well. But something else was wrong, and she didn't know what.

"Why did you come to me? What about Zuko?"

Mother smiled and put her hand on Azula's cheek.

"Zuko can wait. But you and I, we are going to have a talk. It's long overdue, I think."

It still felt wrong, but Azula couldn't help but nod.

TBC